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April 2009

April 30, 2009

There are few players with more class in the lockerrroom than reliever Eddie Guardado, who felt bad after his ejection by Angel Campos in the seventh inning. Guardado blamed himself and not Campos for the ejection. "It was not his fault," Guardado said. "It was all my fault. I was just letting out some frustration and he just happened to be standing there." Guardado walked Jack Cust on four pitches in the 4-2 loss and then was ejected. It's been a rough season for Guardado, who has a 9.64 ERA in nine appearances.

The Athletics denied the Rangers a chance at a winning April with a 4-2 victory Thursday. The Rangers (10-11) were their own worst enemy, leaving 12 runners on base. Texas left the bases loaded in the fifth without scoring a run. The Rangers were also denied a three-run homer in the eighth when Ryan Sweeney robbed Ian Kinsler of a homer in center with Oakland clinging to a 3-1 lead. Andruw Jones and Hank Blalock homered for Texas. Vicente Padilla (1-2) took the loss, going six innings and allowing three earned runs.

As bad as the Rangers have been with runners in scoring position, Ian Kinsler's drive to center could have sent the Rangers to the ninth inning with a 4-3 lead. That was until Ryan Sweeney robbed Kinsler of a three-run homer with his leaping catch. That could also be the difference in a winning and losing April.

The Athletics lead 1-0 because they move runners over. A double, a grounder to second and a shallow fly to center have put Oakland up. If the Rangers lose this game and end April with a record under .500, they can look back to a bad fifth inning as the reason.

Your best hitter is supposed to get the run in with no outs and runners on second and third. You're supposed to get the run in with the bases loaded and fewer than two outs. The Rangers did neither and it's still 0-0.

His fastball peaked out at 90 in the first inning, which still isn't where it normally is. Maybe he'll pick things up in the second inning. A creature of habit, Padilla was not enthused about last night's rainout. The good news is that he worked a scoreless first despite leaving the bases loaded.

Right-hander Kris Benson will pitch for Double-A Frisco on Sunday in a rehab start after completing a bullpen session with no complications earlier today.

The Rangers have set their rotation through Tuesday. Scott Feldman, who is pitching for Benson while he's on the disabled list, is starting Friday and would be scheduled pitch again Wednesday. That might be too soon for Benson to come back, especially if the goal of his rehab start is to build up some arm strength.

But May 9 at Chicago might make some sense. That would give Millwood an extra day and with an off day allow Benson, Millwood and Padilla to pitch in the three-game series against the Angels on May 15-17 with another extra day between starts.